Move Over Demon Slayer: Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc Rules the Box Office
Anime is powering the box office rebound as Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc storms out of the gate, racing past key global milestones in its opening run and seizing the spotlight after a lull in major studio releases—picking up the baton from Demon Slayer.
Hollywood has been tiptoeing through a quiet patch, but anime is not playing along. Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc just cut through the lull and cleared $100 million worldwide in its opening run. Yes, that is fast.
By the numbers
- Domestic opening weekend: an estimated $17.2 million, good enough for No. 1 in the U.S.
- Theater count: 3,003 locations across North America.
- Global total so far: roughly $108 million, with about 40% of that coming from its earlier run in Japan.
- Premium formats matter: IMAX and 3D drove more than 60% of the weekend take.
- Club membership: it is only the ninth anime film ever to open above $10 million in North America.
- Who it beat domestically this weekend: The Black Phone 2 ($13 million in weekend two), Paramount's Regretting You ($12.9 million), and 20th Century Studios' Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere ($9.1 million).
Why this popped
This one was eventized from the jump. The push started at Anime Expo in Los Angeles back in July, rolled through New York Comic Con, and kept humming with exclusive footage drops, influencer screenings, and global Crunchyroll livestreams to juice awareness across 65 regional markets. If you felt like the movie was everywhere, you were not imagining it.
Also helping: the crowd wanted the big screen version. IMAX and 3D doing north of 60% on opening weekend is a huge share, and a reminder that anime fans will absolutely pay for scale when you give them a reason.
The bigger picture
Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc is the latest proof that anime is doing real work at the global box office right now. It follows another Sony and Crunchyroll powerhouse in Demon Slayer, which hauled in around $666 million worldwide. Different franchises, same takeaway: these releases are no longer niche plays.
What the movie is
Based on Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga, Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a broke demon hunter who literally fuses with his devil dog Pochita. The result: he can turn parts of his body into chainsaws and take on devils to survive. The film comes from MAPPA, with Tatsuya Yoshihara directing.
How it is landing
Critics are into it (96% on Rotten Tomatoes), and general audiences gave it an A CinemaScore. Between that response and the front-loaded premium format turnout, this one is not just a fan-service curiosity — it is a bona fide box office play for Sony and Crunchyroll.